VISUAL artist and deputy dean of the School of Art and Design at the Chinhoyi University of Technology Julias Chengetai Nyamubaya recognises his art as a social commentary to events that happen in people’s day-to-day lives in Zimbabwe presented through the eyes of an artist.
Nyamubaya made the remarks in an interview with NewsDay Life & Style on the sidelines of his solo exhibition, Transformation that opened on Friday night at Pikicha Gallery in the capital.
The exhibition comprises 21 works including Portrait of a Street Kid, Bloody Cyclone Floods, Orthodox Churches, Child with Child and No one Is Perfect.
Nyamubaya said his piece, Potrait of a Street Kid, was inspired during his time studying at Harare Polytechnic pointing out that it is the oldest piece at the exhibition.
“I would visit many places in the city and it caught my attention that street kids do not have rest in their mind, there is a lot happening that is why they end up taking drugs to try and escape from their thoughts and memories. They only get back to square one when they are sober,” he said.
He described the piece Bloody Cyclone Floods as an interpretation of cyclones and floods that hit the country such as Cyclone Idai, a tropical cyclone that left a trail of destruction in Chimanimani and Chipinge areas, Manicaland province in 2019.
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Cyclone Idai left hundreds of people dead, displaced and destroyed infrastructure.
Nyamubaya’s appreciation for nature is also shown in his piece titled Mazvikadei Waters inspired by how magical it was for him to see boats and sunsets at Mazvikadei Dam when he was working on his art for the exhibition.
Another piece, Orthodox Churches, resembles his observation of churches being deserted by people migrating to prophets because they want to experience some miracles.
“Some people nowadays want prophecies and churches where prophecies are not performed, are being abandoned,” he said.
In the piece Shocked he interprets how false prophets get shocked when things or events they prophesy never came to pass.
The artefact Child with Child tackles issues to do with child marriages, a child looking after another child. This piece depicts that young mothers do not even know how to raise children since they are children too.
Another painting No one Is Perfect is motivated by Nyamubaya’s Christian background. It resembles people that feel they are holier than others. Nyamubaya is for the view that no one is cleaner than the other.
Through the piece, Mining Landscape, the artist depicts the country’s mining sector where there are pits are left open which can be dangerous to people and livestock.
Nyamubaya did Graphic Arts, Design and Fine Art at Harare Polytechnic and once worked at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare.